


Stars Fading (But I Linger On, Dear)

by Spacecadet72



Category: Wonder Woman (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:34:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22030351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spacecadet72/pseuds/Spacecadet72
Summary: Diana and Steve meet in dreams.
Relationships: Diana (Wonder Woman)/Steve Trevor
Comments: 3
Kudos: 40





	Stars Fading (But I Linger On, Dear)

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for wonderwrman on tumblr for the wondertrevnet Secret Santa event. 
> 
> There were lots of ideas of where I could go with this, but I decided on this after I couldn't get the image of them meeting in a dreamscape out of my head. :) I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
> 
> Title comes from the song Dream a Little Dream of Me.

The dreams start one night without warning. She had been told this might happen and knows what it means--she has found her soulmate. It is a man, and that surprises her. Although she knew it wasn't anyone on the island, because the dreams would have started some time ago, she has spent her life around only women and the man in her dreams is a shock.

"You are a man," she states, almost stupidly, a grin blooming across her mouth.

He looks confused at this proclamation. "Uh, yeah, do I not look like one?"

In all honesty, he looks more boy than man, but she is kind enough not to tell him this. Humans age differently than amazons, and so it is hard for her to tell just how old he is, but he looks to be in that awkward stage between youth and manhood. He doesn't quite fit in his body, as if he's still learning how to operate the newness of it.

His face is what she spends most staring at at first, once she gets past his overall appearance. She can't quite focus on it, and when she stares closer at it, the more it blurs and she can't make out any of his features at all.

But that doesn't matter, as curious as she is, when he starts to talk.

"Where are you from, that you've never seen a man? Don't you have a father?"

"I was formed from clay and brought to life by Zeus." She shrugs.

She doesn't have to be able to see his face to hear the surprise in his voice.

"Oh, okay."

She knows he doesn't believe her, but he keeps talking to her, and that's all she really wants from him.

* * *

"Where are you?" he asks one day while they are lying side by side near the sea. She's not sure where they are in their dreams, as it's clearly not Themyscira, but it is beautiful.

They don't seem to be able to tell each other identifying details, other than their first names, but Diana tries to answer anyway.

"I'm on Themyscira."

"Thema--where?" he asks, turning his head to look at her, and she can almost see his eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

A smile breaks out across her lips at this almost expression. "Themyscira," she says again, slowly. "It is where the Amazons live."

"Huh," he says, turning to look up at the sky. He's silent for a moment, before he turns back to her. "Is that near Greece?"

She shakes her head. "I don't think so. It is somewhat outside the world of man."

Steve blows out a breath. "Figures I'd get a soulmate I can't even meet," he mutters, and Diana knows how he feels. Unless Ares comes to attack the world of men, she will spend her days on Themyscira, no men in sight.

Diana feels a stark burst of loneliness at the thought, despite her friends and family that surround her on the island. She loves them all, and is happy with her life, but if she is not to meet this man who is apparently her match, why show him to her at all?

She reaches out to take his hand gently in hers. "At least we have these dreams."

She thinks he is smiling, but can't know for sure, although she can hear the bittersweetness in his responding, "yeah."

* * *

He tells her about his life, and it is not so different from hers, although he has had much less physical training. He goes to school, and they have discussions about life, and philosophy and the books they've read, even if they are not reading the same ones. He is also training to be a pilot.

"What is it like?" Diana asks, wishing she could experience it. She can leap and fall far distances without harm, but to actually fly? Even in a machine it sounds wonderful.

She imagines the way his face lights up when he speaks about it, being so far above the earth, able to go farther and faster than he ever could down on land.

"I'd love to take you up in the air sometime," he says, sounding wistful.

"It sounds amazing," Diana says, smiling widely, even if he can't see it. "Maybe one day you can take me."

They both know it will never happen, but she holds on tight to the idea anyway, as if by simply wanting it enough, she can make it come true.

* * *

The years pass and she dreams of him every night. He quickly becomes one of her closest friends, and there are days she can't wait to go to sleep, to be able to see him and talk about her day.

"Diana," he says, a smile in his voice, and it makes her warm to know that he wants to see her as much as she wants to see him. If this is all she gets of him, she will take it.

Later, when she is awake, she sees the look of sadness on her mother's face when she is telling her about something particularly funny that Steve said.

"Oh, my darling," her mother says on a sigh. "I worry for you, with a soulmate such as him."

"You're worried that I won't meet him?" Diana asks. That is what she fears. She knows deep down that this will be their fate: to exist together only in dreams.

Hippolyta shakes her head. "No, I fear that you will meet him and I fear what that meeting with bring."

Diana ponders her words. How could meeting Steve in real life ever be wrong?

* * *

Diana pushes her mother's words to the back of her mind, and focuses instead on her training and her dreams. She is becoming one of the fiercest amazons, and she and Steve are closer than ever.

Steve challenges her to a fight one night, a chance to see her prowess in action. He doesn't seem to really think he can win, not after the stories she has told him about her fellow amazons and the kind of training her aunt puts her through. He does give it his all though, not holding back because she is a woman. According to him, the women in his world don't fight. Diana can't fathom it.

She has him flat on his back in less than a minute, and he lets out a harsh breath at the impact. "I knew you were good, but that was amazing," he says, lifting a hand up for her to help him to his feet.

"You did well, Steve," she says as she pulls him up and he laughs.

"Yeah, sure. It's not true, but I'll take it."

"You're not ashamed to have been beaten by a woman?" Diana asks, curious about his answer. From what Steve has told her about his world, shows of strength by women bring out insecurity in men. Diana thinks it is ridiculous, and part of her worries that he will be the same way.

He shakes his head. "You're a better fighter than me, why would I be ashamed of losing to someone like you?"

Diana grins at that and wishes for not the first time that she could have this in her waking hours too.

* * *

Even more years pass and Steve loses his boyish awkwardness, gaining confidence and strength.

She falls asleep one night and even without being able to see his expression, she knows that something is wrong. He is hunched in on himself, looking small and lost and there is an air of sadness and desperation about him.

"What is it?" she asks, reaching out to lay her hand on his.

He takes it, lacing their fingers together.

"War," he says. One simple word, and yet in his voice is all the horror and devastation that such an event brings.

"Between who?" Diana doesn't have a strong grasp on the geography of the world of man, but she knows enough to recognize names.

Steve brings his head up to look at her. "Everyone."

He tells her of the carnage and destruction this war has caused, even after only a short time. "I can't believe it's lasted this long," he says, sounding exhausted, "but I don't see an end in sight either."

Alarmed, Diana takes this news to her mother. "We must help," she says, remembering the stories her mother told her as a child.

Hippolyta is silent as she considers the request. "We must not involve ourselves in such disputes," she says after several moments. "The world of man must fight their own battles."

Diana shakes her head in disbelief. "He called it a war to end all wars, mother. This has to be Ares. We have to stop him."

Hippolyta looks at her with sadness and shakes her head. "Those were stories I told you when you were young, Diana, nothing more. We stay here."

Diana tries to argue her case, but her mother will not hear of it.

"I am sorry, Steve," she says later that night after she goes to sleep. "I tried to get help."

Steve shakes his head. "I'm not sure even you could turn the tide of this war."

She takes his hand in hers and wishes things were different. Wishes she could make them different. Better.

* * *

"I'm going on a mission, a dangerous one," Steve says one night, much later in the war, this war without end. "There may be some sleepless nights."

Diana doesn't think about the possibility that he might not make it. She is not ready to lose him now.

"I will wait," she says, forcing the worry out of her voice.

* * *

Two days later, Diana sees a man fall out of the sky and saves him from drowning. After a battle on the beach and the death of Antiope, Diana is left unable to process. She is still trying to make the world right itself when she answers the man's question about their location.

"We are on Themyscira," she says simply.

"Diana?" The man's face is one of disbelief and a fragile hope.

Her eyes widen. Who else would know who she is except-- "Steve?"

She is in his arms the moment after his nod, holding on to him tightly. "I never thought I would get to see you," she says into his shoulder and she can feel his tears against her skin.

They stand hand in hand in front of her mother and the rest of the warriors. "Mother," Diana says, so many emotions coursing through her that she's not sure what to focus on, "this is Steve Trevor. From my dreams."

Hippolyta regards them calmly, but Diana can almost swear she can see her mother's heart breaking in the expression in her eyes.

And then all too quickly, in a blur of desperate actions, they are off to the War.

The dreams stop while they are physically in the same location. She doesn’t need to dream about him when she has him there, impossibly real and with her.

And then he is gone and the dreams don’t return.

* * *

In 1984, Steve is back, and she doesn't need the dreams, but then he is lost and she wonders if losing him this second time is worse.

* * *

She falls asleep one night in late summer, in the year 2019. Instead of the usual vague dreamscapes she has been used to for the last century, the setting is a familiar one. As is the only other occupant.

"Steve," she breathes out. What can this mean? She never dreamed of him back in the 80s, the dreams stopped after he died. He couldn't be back. This had to be a trick, some illusion sent to torment her by an angry god or goddess.

"Diana?" he asks, sounding just as he did over 100 years ago, his tone confused and unsure. She can make out his face now, but it is unclear if that is a sign this is false, or simply something she can see now that they have met in real life.

"Why are you here?" she asks, unable to hold back the pain in her voice. She's not sure she can withstand this kind of ploy. She can't lose him again. "Who are you really?"

"I'm Steve," he says, sounding so earnest and determined. "I don't know how, but I woke up today. I'm not even sure what year it is."

"It's 2019," she answers automatically, while her mind pores over every piece of evidence she has. "Where are you?" slips out of her mouth before she can stop it. She knows she should be more cautious, least of all to protect her heart from more pain, but she can't not take this chance that he really is alive.

He's in a small town outside of London, and she is on the first plane out after she wakes up. They talked for as long as they slept, going over possibilities for his return, as well as reminiscing over the past and saying things that were left unsaid before. They aren't able to come to any satisfying conclusions, but Diana can't bring herself to smother the small piece of hope growing in her heart.

Diana's leg bounces up and down for the whole flight and she is pushing her way off the plane as soon as the door is open.

His back is to her when she gets to the small hostel he is staying at, and she just takes him in for a minute. He is here, and real, and she almost doesn't care if this isn't true, because she'll take a phantasm if it means she can have him back even for a moment.

Someone makes a noise coming in behind her, and he turns, looking just as he did over thirty years before. They are silent as they simply take each other in. She's not sure who moves first, but then he is in her arms, neither of them letting go for the next several minutes. Finally, they pull apart, even if it is just to be able to look at the other again.

"You're really here?" she asks, her voice low.

He looks down at himself and then back up at her. "I mean, I'm pretty sure."

It's such a Steve answer that she can't stop the wide smile that blooms on her lips and almost feels like it will break her face in two. "You're back."

An answering smile forms on his mouth. "I'm back. Although I have no idea how or why."

"We'll figure it out," she says, reaching down and taking his hand in hers. "Together."


End file.
